Glass Houses & Casting Stones

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a wide-ranging interview today with Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporters and editors, said she would have left her church if her pastor made the sort of inflammatory remarks Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor made.

"He would not have been my pastor," Clinton said. "You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/...

While I respect Hillary Clinton's right to express any opinion on any topic, I find her judgment peculiar and a bit ahistoric, given her own personal history and choices.  

 

Wright's comments have been described as "racist" or "hate speech" by some, and that kind of judgment is clearly shared by and influences Clinton's comment "He would not be my pastor".  Perhaps she should remember that Bill Clinton's actions with Monica Lewinsky were described as "sexist" and "sexual harassment" by some, who judged Hillary Clinton poorly for her decision to remain married {'He would not be my husband') to man who abused his power to solicit sex with a female subordinate. Perhaps she should not forget the criticisms at that time for her failure to speak out publicly, as a wife and a feminist, to condemn Bill Clinton's sexist actions (Obama has been public in his condemnation of Wright's words).

Yes, it's true both Obama and Clinton have made choices about the seminal influences in their lives, and can be judged by them. But I think it's a partisan and wrongheaded stretch to extrapolate from Wright and Bill Clinton to assert that Obama's decision to remain a member of a congregation means he supports "hate speech" or that Hillary Clinton's decision to remain a partner in a marriage means she supports "sexism."  Frankly, I think both Jeremiah Wright and Bill Clinton have each earned the right to be more than right-wing or media caricatures.

The words and actions of Wright and Bill Clinton represent world views that while familiar to me because of my age and race, are also, perhaps unhelpfully, stuck in time. One can make the argument that both Obama and Hillary Clinton, for very deep personal and perhaps religious reasons, chose to look beyond the failures or decisions of these key mentors/loved ones, and to see the greater good done by both Wright and Clinton, despite strong personal or political disagreement with their words or their actions.  Perhaps I just place a lot of faith in both of our Democratic candidates. Because both Obama and Clinton's central relationships with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Clinton are relationships by choice, not by blood.  (As far as I am aware, divorce - while discouraged - is a choice not prohibited within the Methodist faith.)

My point here is not to pile on to Hillary Clinton. I really believe that there are more substantive issues (the War, economy, healthcare, foreign policy, environment, poverty, trade, etc) that impact my decision as a voter than the (condemned) words of Rev Wright or the (apologized for) actions of Bill Clinton.  I hope we Democrats, all of us, would be a bit more circumspect when casting stones, perhaps we can remember that we all grew up and live in cracked glass houses.